A/N: I'm beginning to wish I never signed up for that summer class. I had an essay due, which meant it took longer than usual just to do this one update. So annoying. Yes, I know school is important but it's making it harder to get back on the proverbial horse, so to speak. Hopefully the Mac/Riley scenes in this story will help make up for that. Enjoy!

Chapter 23- Desk Duty

Riley didn't like desk duty one bit, but she was glad to be back at the lab, even though the last few weeks had caused her to become as stir-crazy as she was at home. People dropped by at different times to say hello and Stella came by with paperwork. Adam and Kendall then came by for possibly the fifth time that day, and although Riley was glad to see them, she couldn't wait to be back in the field, which was why she was glad she was getting her cast off tomorrow.

"What are you two doing here?" said Riley.

"Hiding from Gerrard," said Adam.

"I'm not hiding, I just came to talk to you," said Kendall.

"He's here? You gotta be kidding me," said Riley.

"DETECTIVE TAYLOR!" Gerrard yelled.

"Ugh!" Riley whispered. "He's giving me a headache!"

They heard him coming, so Adam hid under Riley's desk and Kendall went back to the lab.

"Adam!" Riley hissed. "You can't hide under a table for the rest of your life!"

"No, but I can hide for the rest of the day! Last thing I need is to be cornered by that guy, okay? He scares me," said Adam.

"I'm not scared, he just pisses me off," said Riley.

"Were you scared when you got shot?" said Adam.

"No, I was angry," said Riley.

She turned her chair around so she'd have some more legroom, balancing her paperwork on her lap while Adam sat on the floor.

"We need tunes," said Adam.

Riley laughed, but it didn't last long. She could still hear Mac and Gerrard arguing, and she realized her boyfriend would be still be seething by the end of the day. It was going to take a lot to calm him down when they met back up at her place later during the night, which made her hope they didn't get another case because he'd only be in a sour mood that much longer.

"You okay?" said Adam.

"Yeah," said Riley.

She knew she couldn't tell Adam about her relationship with Mac, it would cause a nasty turn of events that couldn't be reversed.

She popped Nickelback's All The Right Reasons in the CD drive of the computer and listened as the first song came on.

Well you can dig me up a grave
And try and stick me in the ground
Well you can tie me to the bed
And try and beat me half to death
But you can never keep me down
Well you can stick me in a hole
And you can pray all day for rain
You can shoot me in the leg
Just to try to make me beg
And you can leave me there for days

She looked outside, hoping the view of the city and the loud rock music would drown out the yelling she heard.

However, as she bent to pick a pen up off the floor, she saw something falling to the ground across the street and realized it was a man.

She opened the window in a futile attempt to see if she could grab him, but it was too late.

The man was dead when he hit the ground.

CSINY

Mac couldn't believe this. Gerrard had obviously woken up on the wrong side of the bed and had decided to take it out on him. Mac had detained a friend of the other man for questioning in a prior case, which was the cause for this latest visit.

He heard a knock at the door and saw Riley leaning on her crutches. He noticed she had streaked her hair blue. He liked it.

He went to open the door, which just made Gerrard even angrier.

"There better be a good reason for this!" Gerrard yelled.

"Yeah, a dead body!" said Riley. "Guy either jumped, fell, or was pushed off the building across from ours."

"What the HELL did you do to your hair?" said Gerrard. "Wash it out!"

"That's real funny, Gerrard," said Riley. "It's not against the dress code, and I'm on desk duty right now anyway because of my leg."

She turned around and hopped away on her crutches.

"Meeting's adjourned, I have to go investigate a probable homicide," said Mac.

CSINY

They were outside investigating and realized the man had landed on his back, which meant he had either fallen, or had been pushed. Mac looked up and saw Riley looking down from her office. He realized she'd seen the guy plunge to his death, but because of where she was located she hadn't seen what had happened before, so it was probably bothering her.

After the case was solved, he'd talk to her.

CSINY

"Riley?" said Adam.

"Yeah?" said Riley.

"Are you okay?" said Adam.

"No," said Riley. "I couldn't save him."

"He was too far away," said Adam.

Riley nodded. It didn't help her feel better though. Just because she was a detective didn't mean she wanted to always be witness to what had been a person's last day on earth.

"Are you going to get off the floor and get back to work anytime soon?" said Riley.

"You're starting to sound like Mac," said Adam.

"I don't sound like him, Adam… get a cup and pee in it so I can test you, you're obviously on drugs," said Riley.

CSINY

Mac needed Adam's help on the case and couldn't find him. Sid had mused that the death was possibly a lovers' quarrel, but Sid was doing that a lot these days whenever young people came into the morgue.

He knocked on the door of Riley's office, even though she had the door open he wasn't one to barge in on people.

"Hey Mac," said Riley. "How are things going?"

"They'd be going better with Adam looking at the phones of the victim and the suspect," said Mac.

"Is Gerrard gone? He freaked Adam out with all the yelling and gnashing of teeth," said Riley.

"Yeah, he's gone," said Mac.

Mac watched as Riley spun around in her chair and glared at something or someone under the desk.

"Adam, get out," said Riley. "This is stupid."

Mac watched as Adam crawled out from under Riley's desk and walked out of the office, looking slightly ashamed of his behavior.

CSINY

The next day Riley was at her doctor's office getting her cast removed, eyeing the saw with curiosity and thinking of what Sid would say.

"Most people are scared of this thing," said Dr. Gallagher.

"I know someone who would make macabre jokes," said Riley.

She found her mind drifting to the case as Dr. Gallagher sawed the cast off. Sid's joke about it being a lover's quarrel had come back to haunt everyone when the killer had been the victim's wife. The victim and his wife had been separated, and the victim had been having an affair. He had asked for a divorce, and she had pushed him off the building.

Riley vaguely wondered how detectives were able to have a normal romantic relationship with someone without thinking about the crimes of passion that could ensue. She had heard rumors about what had happened to Stella, and seen plenty of cases despite not even being a CSI a year yet.

It was something she would try not to think about that night, because having no cast on her leg meant she and Mac could sneak around without being spotted so as a result they had planned a night out together. They were going to go to TJ Clarke's, Mac's favorite restaurant, and because Mac wasn't playing at Cozy's that night they were going to wing it from there.

CSINY

Riley was at her apartment, feeling more than a little annoyed. None of the clothes she had looked or felt right, everything was either too dressy or too plain.

"I have to have something in here," Riley muttered.

She felt something wet on her hand and saw that Snowy had walked into her bedroom. The dog was nudging Riley's hand with her nose. Riley reached up and began petting the Dalmatian, but Snowy began licking Riley's hand.

"Hi girl," said Riley. "Wanna help me find something to wear for my date with Mac tonight?"

Snowy yipped in response.

Riley ventured through her closet again, wanting to be ready early because she was certain Mac was the one guy who would show up early for a date.

CSINY

Riley took one last look in the mirror. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a blue halter top that matched her eyes. A pair of winter boots and some jewelry completed the look. The boots were a pair of silver-grey Uggs she had gotten a couple years back. There was still snow on the ground and the last thing she wanted to do was break something else because she slipped on the ice.

She grabbed her white winter coat and hailed a taxi, because she was meeting Mac there. She knew she'd probably be there first, she just hoped he didn't get so caught up with his paperwork that she was stuck at the restaurant by herself.

CSINY

Mac went into TJ Clarke's and saw Riley sitting in one of the booths, looking outside. She turned around and waved to him as he walked over and sat with her.

"I haven't ordered anything yet, I was waiting for you," said Riley. "Don't worry it was only about five minutes."

"You look great," said Mac.

Riley smiled and kissed him.

CSINY

They had each ordered cheeseburgers, and were currently eating them and talking.

"You look distracted Mac," said Riley. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I've just had a long day," said Mac.

"Is it because I'm going back into the field tomorrow?" said Riley.

"A little," said Mac. "I know in my head that you're always careful, but it's hard not to worry when I care about you the way I do."

"I worry about you too, but I'd rather make the most of the time we got right now," said Riley.

"Me too," said Mac.

They shared another kiss before finishing their food.

After Mac paid they left for Central Park and walked around, hand in hand as snow fell around them.

"I hope this snowfall is the last," said Mac. "Riley, where are you?"

She had disappeared without him noticing. As he looked around, something hit him right in the shoulder. It was a snowball.

"Gotcha!" said Riley.

Mac fashioned a snowball of his own and threw it at her, but she ducked behind a rock. He then made another one and began chasing her through Central Park. He managed to hit her the second time, and then he took her in his arms and began kissing her, only for her to hit him in the back with a second snowball.

"That wasn't fair," said Mac.

"All's fair in love and war," said Riley.

They sat on a bench and began making out, but the weather wasn't the best for that and they soon left, heading to a coffee shop and drinking hot chocolate, both of them agreeing they should probably go their separate ways afterwards since it was getting late and they were both on the day shift tomorrow.

"I'm having a lot of fun, you?" said Riley.

"Yeah, I am," said Mac. "Thanks."

"For what?" said Riley.

"Not rushing anything, and listening to me earlier," said Mac.

"Welcome," said Riley.

As the taxi stopped at Riley's place first and they shared yet another kiss that night, they both knew they would be going out again.

In the meantime, even though they had to hide their feelings from the team, they would see each other at work tomorrow and that made them happy.

I was going to have them do the deed, but I figured that was too much too soon. Problem is, I got no clue how many dates its gonna take with these two! Review, por favor, and give me a number as to how many dates it should take, or like the tootsie pops, the world may never know!